Macular Imaging by Optical Coherence Tomography for Glaucoma

Abstract

For detection of glaucomatous retinal ganglion cell damage, the role of macular-area imaging has been expanded. Considering the macula contains more than half of the total retinal ganglion cells, the thickness of the macular ganglion cell layer, complementarily to peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, can effectively reflect glaucomatous damage. Additionally, macular parameters, as compared with peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer parameters, have demonstrated comparable sensitivity levels for detection of glaucoma progression. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness and deviation maps can also provide additional information essential to differentiation of glaucomatous changes from myopia or nonglaucomatous optic-neuropathy-associated changes.